Decisions of the Nuthouse Crew
by Deer Salt
Summary: Six characters. Six mentally-deteriorating obsessions. Six different walks of life. Six different forms of revenge. Society wants them to disappear; as their sanities falter, they intend to leave their mark in the most permanent way.
1. The Trigger

The Trigger

Erotomania.

"I don't think I did well on that test at all" a tiny rabbit named Cream laments, as she and the other girls at her lunch table talk about their day.

"Me either," another one, a mongoose, disdainfully says. "How about you, Amy?"

The whole table is turned to the pink hedgehog, who is detached from the conversation. Instead, she looks on across the room, where another student is blissfully unaware of her unwanted attention.

"Amy!" Cream snaps in front of her. Breaking out of her trance, Amy looks on apologetically.

"I'm sorry…Jet was just begging for me to look at him…" she slightly smiles. She didn't mean to make her friends irresistibly jealous at her relationship. Instead of jealously, however, they seem to be slightly concerned.

"Amy…Jet barely knows you…" Mina trails off, starting at her in amazement.

She dramatically gasps at fist, but then breaks into laughter. "Guys, we sit across the room from each other in biology…and he's _always_ sending me signals…it's actually so obvious at first I thought it was somewhat pathetic" she shrugs nonchalantly. "But I got over it…I'm going to put a letter in his locker later, how _cute_ is _that_?" she giddily asks.

"Uhm...will you excuse us for one moment?" Mina guides Cream out of the cafeteria and into the hallway. "She's gone nuts."

Kleptomania.

Rouge sits in the house of a man whom she just met at the local bar. Inviting her in, she was looking forward to a good night. But now…well, now she had her eyes on something much different.

There it sat. She had to have it. The plant in the ceramic pot was calling to her, screaming to be taken.

"I'm ready" the raven whom she had met seductively calls. Oh, how she longed to stay there…but she had to have it. Walking in the room she quickly stripped down to her underwear, bra, and thigh-highs, raising her brow seductively.

He's looking her up and down, licking his lips. Bingo. "Oh, but do you mind if I…freshen up a bit?" the bat coos. Smiling lustfully, the bird nods.

"Just down the hall second door to your left, kitten" he winks. She smiles back playfully and makes her exit, shutting the door behind her; on to business. She runs over to the window where the pot is placed.

Rubbing her hands all over the plant and running them over the pot, she moves it to her head and snuggles it for a moment. Looking up to make sure he has not come out and seen, she removes her high heels and quietly walks to the door, silently closing it behind her. Stretching out her wings, she takes off into the night with her valuable treasure.

Pyromania.

Flick on. Flick off. Blaze, still amazed everyday with the fire that emits from her palms, makes it routine to simply 'test' her powers as much as she possibly can. Sitting in her prim and proper well-kept backyard, she felt out of place, yet relaxed, with her pile of crumpled papers and dirty garbage spread out on front of her.

The garbage, which she had collected from diving in local trashcans, is placed on a portion of the lawn that already sported many scorches and burns. She hides behind a trimmed hedge in a seemingly remote corner of her large gated backyard, all alone.

"Burn" she whispers as she silently sets each piece ablaze, one by one, taking in the delicious fiery scent of the trash. Watching the items turn black and wilt under the heat, she shudders with pleasure. Why is this so wrong?

Her parents condemned her talent, a calling it 'evil' and 'witchcraft', which is why she had to hide away and do this in private. Maybe it was the sense of rebellion in her strict palace that made setting things on fire so much more enjoyable.

As the flames finish eating up her supplies, she sighs with sadness. If only she had something…bigger; something humongous that she could watch burn for a long period of time.

The hedge? She contemplates. No, it would go up to quickly. Her books? No, think bigger. Turning her eyes up to the palace in thought, she snaps to an amazing realization. Smiling devilishly, she schemes in her head.

Yes, that would do. That would do nicely.

Hoplomania.

Opening the door to his house, he throws down all of his picket signs on the floor. Sighing contently, Knuckles edges his way into his room, where his beloved is waiting. Finding his bed empty, he nods in satisfaction as he crawls onto the floor and reaches under his mattress. Feeling around for just the right one, he has an 'ah-ha!' moment and pulls out his favorite: a black handgun.

Gripping it in his hands tightly, he feels even more powerful just for touching it. Stepping out of his room, he carries it to the kitchen counter when he gently sets it for a moment as he pours himself a large cup of beer. As he sits down at a stool, he picks it up and gingerly turns it in his hand, admiring its beauty.

"Those damn hoplophobics, they want to take all my guns away. But there's no way in hell I'll let that happen…not even a chance." He grins, a horrible thought passing through his mind. "Maybe if we just shot all of them, they would leave me alone."

Chuckling to himself, he carries his two items onto the sofa as he casually surfs through the channels and searches for anything on his favorite topic: firearms. Flipping through quickly, he notices something and returns to it.

"Today the a few members of the Eastern Board proposed a widely panned proposal that would limit gun use only in approved areas, such as…"

"WHAT?" Knuckles exclaims in a flood of fury. "Well, THIS IS WHAT I THINK OF THAT!" Holding his gun in the air he shoots twice, shattering the screen of the TV and force-ending the program.

He smiles to himself, looking at his prized possession. "Guns do solve all problems."

Pseudomania.

The blue hedgehog sighs in defeat. This is the third time this week he has been held hostage, questioned, and finally released under the false pretense that he was Shadow, his own evil doppelganger.

Why did this always happen to him? Didn't people have any sense at all? They didn't look much alike, except for being the same species! Shaking his head, Sonic runs off the steps of the building and out into the fresh air of the city to clear his thoughts.

Remaining stalwart throughout the many grueling hours of questioning at the hands of City Hall's best officials who tried his innocents at every turn was proving to be tough. It was demoralizing, being hauled there all the time just to clear his name.

But sometimes…sometimes the same thought popped into his head. Maybe it _was_ him? No…it couldn't be…could it? What a ridiculous thought! But…there was always room for reasonable doubt.

"What if…I was the one who sent that bus full of children toppling over the bridge…before I saved it? What if I was the one who stole the Chaos Emerald from over the dead body of the security guard who had overnight watch of it?"

The hedgehog's running feet came to a screeching halt, putting his aimless running throughout the outskirts of town to a standstill. Skimming over his thoughts his eyes widened in shock and horror. "It's been…me."

Ergomania.

Young Miles Tails Prower was the pride of his parents and the prodigal talk of the town. At the age of two he was able to completely read and comprehend classical plays that even some adults struggled with, and at eight he could construct a wide variety of groundbreaking machinery that proved beneficial for many people in his community.

All the success, however, was slightly undermined by a slight glitch in the fox's system. Once he began working on a project, he wasn't physically able to stop. In fact, even once he was done with one he immediately moved on to another, putting him in a seemingly endless cycle.

Something about tinkering, working his hands to the bone, and staying up through late nights and long days deeply appealed to him. So what if he didn't 'get out' much? From what his machines fixed the world didn't seem that great anyways.

"Tails!" his mother calls from the door of his lab. He had just been tightening a bolt to his newest creation, and was slightly annoyed by this disturbance.

"Yes?" he asks politely. He may have been annoyed, but he still learned to hold everyone, especially his parents, in great respect.

"You have a young boy here about your age who wants to know if you'll go to the park with him" she smiles.

"A…friend?" He looked hopeful for a minute; he never hung out with other kids since he never did go to school, being deemed 'too intelligent'. He shook his head quickly before returning to his work. "Please tell him to go on without me mother, I'm far too busy" he passively said as he turned back to his work.

His mother looked saddened for a moment, but smiled weakly at her only son. "Okay, honey. Just make sure to take it easy, okay?" He nodded in response, and she turned to leave, letting a small sigh escape her lips. Sometimes she worried about him…he just wasn't _normal_.

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><p><strong>A tiny idea I've had for awhile...please tell me what you think, much appreciated. :)<strong>

**Also, please do not take offence to this story if you know/ are someone with such a disorder; I am not trying to insult you in any way, as I actually know very little about these conditions other than a few hours worth of looking them up online. **


	2. The Crime

The Crime

Erotomania.

This was it. After countless love letters, many passive encounters and eye glances in the hallway, after he jokingly said he would report her to the principle for stalking…their relationship was finally at a climax.

Now for the turning point…it was time she mustered up the courage to accept his invitation to visit his house. Smiling as she turned up the street, she reminded herself how resourceful she was for finding out where he lives. He wouldn't tell her…that trickster! He was always trying to test her! But she was smart enough to figure it out, sneaking into the school offices and going through the master directory until she found it.

"Hehe, there it is!" she jumps from one foot to the other, clapping softly; she didn't want to wake the other neighbors, it was about one in the morning. What would they do once she was inside? Maybe they would bake a late night brownie snack together! Smiling with anticipation, she approached his front door to let herself in; locked.

She sighed, but not in defeat. "Oh that tricky Jet! He wants me to climb to his room myself using the ladder his dad was using to paint last Saturday!" Shaking her head as she retrieves it, she places it on his opened window and climbs up. Once she gets in, she looks at her sleeping lover in admiration; he must've passed out waiting! As she climbs in bed with him, cuddling against his soft feathers, she watches his eyes flutter open.

Jumping out of the bed, he screams in pure terror. "AMY! WHAT-WHAT-WHAT…"

"Hello, my love! Aren't you so happy I'm here?" A rapid knock can be heard from his door as his worried parents shout out his name. Amy's eyes blink, one at a time, as the green hawk picks up the phone and dials the familiar three digit number.

Kleptomania.

Rouge didn't have a choice. After passing through the town this morning during her usual shopping hour, she couldn't get the image out of her mind. It, like the potted plant, numerous lone shoes, and small knick knacks, was begging to be taken.

She thought she had it all thought out…all the security was successfully terminated, the glass doors picked just right…nothing added up to the cops showing up and driving her to the city police station where she was now being held in a questioning cell.

"_Hah, she's the one. How's that for a two in one night?" _She had overheard one cop saying to the other as she was sitting in the car. What did he mean by that?

A large bear dressed in a blue police uniform comes in the room, taking a seat behind the desk in front of her. Grabbing some papers out of the drawers, he scribbles something down before turning to face her. "So, Ms. Bat, I assume you know why you are here?"

She rolls her eyes as she crosses one leg over the other. "Attempted robbery?"

He chuckles slightly. "Attempted robbery and theft."

Her eyes immediately shoot open as she sits bolt upright. "T-thievery? I didn't steal anything!" she exclaims in anger. She didn't take a thing…at least, nothing of value to anyone else.

He clears his throat. "Someone filed a police report about a missing diamond ring…said he kept it in a…potted plant?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Even the plant was reported missing."

Rouge gulped. She hadn't even seen the ring! Damn raven…

"Using his description and processing some DNA found on a pair of heels left at the scene with a new rapid DNA-identifying machine made by some local boy, we were able to find you." He looks into her eyes one last time before nodding to some big guards who usher her out of his office.

As she turns to leave, however, light from a reflective object in her hands catches his attention. "Hold on." He calls her back to his desk. "What have you got there?"

She sighs and reluctantly shoves the small engraved mirror back into his hand, looking tearful. The police chief stares at the item then back at her, a deeply puzzled look on his face. Picking up his phone, he slowly dials a number, never taking his eyes off Rouge. "Oh, yes, hello? How long are the mental health evaluation offices open?"

Pyromania.

Blaze threw a piece of flaming trash at the large estate. Closing her eyes and tightly shielding her face, she waited for the massive flames to slowly engulf the whole area. Minutes passed, and nothing. Slowly her lids opened to see the building still standing and the paper nothing more than a pile of ash. She sighed.

She had to do it. Only her whole flame would light the palace…but she had hoped that maybe by throwing something already on fire at it, it would appear to have happened passively as an accident.

Taking in a deep breath she lit her hands and rubbed them together feverishly, further igniting the flames together to create a massive blaze that raged in her hands. Thrusting her arms forward, she gripped the wall of the house, sending the flame creeping up the side and traveling towards the roof.

Running back a good few yards, she stood in awe as her house slowly disintegrated under the fire. Everything inside…slowly burning…she let out a long, happy sigh. However, her blood suddenly ran cold. All the hair on her body stood on end as she came to the realization. Her things…her parents…her home…it was all being destroyed.

She shook with fear as she looked at her own two hands. "What did I do!" Tears streamed down her face as she helplessly watched the flames burn through the windows, doors, and collapsed roof. How could something so beautiful cause so much…pain?

Lighting her hand, she tried desperately to guard the flames away from her house. Would that even work? When you fight fire with fire…wasn't it supposed to cancel each other out?

Suddenly a door slammed open to reveal…her parents! Out came her father, coughing and wheezing as he carried her mother's limp body away from the threat. Looking around his eyes immediately locked on his daughter whose hand was ablaze, fingers barely touching the wall. He looked on with an expression of extreme shock, anger, and hatred. "WHAT…WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"Father, I can…"

"POLICE! POLICE! ANYONE!"

As the sirens sounded and her father continued to screech, Blaze took off running, eyes filled with salty tears of regret.

Hoplomania.

This was it; the uprising of a lifetime.

He had prepared to set out on this for several months to protest outside of the palace to the king, but given the new unreasonable political viewpoints this protest would take form of a much different wind. The goal: dispose of the king, and anyone inside who wanted to take away his guns. Originally, this was to have remained peaceful; just a few fellows brandishing their firearms and threatening to send 'a rain of blood on a town rid of guns'.

But now, oh-ho now, the threats were solid. After much discussion with the others earlier, he found out that most of them had dropped out, deeming it even too unsightly for their tastes. "Fine," he thought. "Today I am a one man show."

When he entered the normally locked gates of the palace, he chuckled. This would be easier than he thought. Swiftly running up the winding walkway, he approached the remains of the once-extravagant mansion with shock. Police officers, firemen…all surrounding the burnt down building and the couple crying over it. Ducking behind a nearby tree, Knuckles tried to make sense of the scene. A small purple cat was talking to some officers…her hands were on fire! Someone should help her! Should he…?

No, his guns had other plans. And he couldn't get lost in the commotion, his cause needed to be heard. Howling like a banshee, he ran into the crowd, shouting his gun related phrases and waving his weapon in the air.

"Grab him! Get him!" The officials called. One by one, Knuckles evaded them all, leaping on top of a cop car and shouting out to the vulnerable king.

"Hear my words: our guns will never be silenced!" Aiming his gun he fired a single shot, directed at the king who was clutching his wife in fear. Before he could witness the true impact, however, he was tackled from the side, sending him crashing down onto the hard ground. His last sights were of running feet and his last sounds were that of yelps and screeches of terror and panic. At last his eyes closed; everything slowly turned to a shade of purple and black.

Pseudomania.

He couldn't stand it anymore. His mind buzzed every night with the image of him…and those innocently murdered bystanders. No, he hadn't done it…so why did he feel this strong urge to come clean and confess everything.

That's why he is here, now; the police station, in a room, being stared down by the same police chief who had just questioned him just not too long ago in this very same area. He rubs his chin in a perplexed manner. Why is this hedgehog coming to him now?

"I-I was the one who stole that important intelligence from the army earlier this week" Sonic firmly says.

The chief looks alarmed for a moment, then relaxes slightly and knits his brows. "Sonic…we cleared you of that earlier this week…we proved Shadow had done it. Now you're telling us it was actually _you_?"

Sonic's eyes flitted around the room for a few moments before he nodded his head. The chief tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "I don't know why you're playing with me, hedgehog, so leave right now before you get yourself into some trouble."

At this point Sonic's heart was rapidly beating. He was right, why was he here? He didn't do anything wrong…it was like something was forcing the words to come out of his mouth, something he couldn't control. "On the way here I broke into a bank and killed three people inside" he blurted out. He violently twitched upon saying this and was gripped with so much panic he nearly stopped breathing.

The chief jumped up from his seat, backing away and talking loudly in fear. "Why-why are you saying that? That's not something to joke about! Are you mad? Are you disturbed!"

Sonic calmly shook his head, a thick mask over the horror and disgust he felt inside. "No, sir; I-I killed them. Tonight." Something forced him to smile. Something creepy shot through his body, numbing his mind to all sense of right and wrong.

"Y-You've gone crazy! Telling these heinous lies! Mad! Backup! I need backup!"

Ergomania.

"Tails, sweetie. Grandma insists you come sit down and have dinner. She's had it up to here with you avoiding everyone, and I must agree. For heavens sake, Miles, you're her only grandson and she hasn't seen you in three years!" His mother crossed her arms and tapped her foot, awaiting a response from her preoccupied son who was hard at work in his lab typing away on a keyboard.

"Mother, I wish I could, I would love to see her. But I just cannot stop working! I have a deadline!"

"What deadline! You always say there is a deadline, but there can't be this many!"

"Mother, my deadline to start a new project! Once this one is done I have an exact date when I need to be working on the next one, and the next, and the next!" Exasperated, he turns to face his tearful mother.

"Bu-but with that logic you'll never have any free time! We won't ever see you; you'll grow up away from us and…and…" She takes a seat in his lab, holding her head as she started to weep loudly. He didn't like to see his own mother cry. In fact, it made him want to.

Guilt pounded through his tiny chest. "Okay, Mother, I'll try to give up work…just for tonight…"

She looked up, smiling, and hugged him tightly before they finally departed hand-in-hand towards the house.

"Wow, you've actually gotten him inside!" his father remarked once they sat down to eat. This sparked up some good-natured laughter and soon melted into a long conversation.

Thankfully, he wasn't involved. A thousand thoughts were spinning in his head, and his hand was in the formation as if he was firmly gripping a wrench; just sitting down for a moment away from his machines made him increasingly paranoid. It wouldn't be so bad if he just checked his mobile status calculator, would it? Just to make sure things were running smoothly. Pulling it out, his anxiety was momentarily assuaged.

"Miles Tails Prower! What is this!" his mother said from behind him. She quickly swiped the object out of his hand, looking it over in disgust. "Young man, I am very disappointed."

"Mother I need that." Tails said, slightly agitated.

"NO! You promised no work and that you would be with the family…"

"Mother. Give it to me. Now." He stood up out of his seat, anger flaring up in his face.

"I will not tolerate this level of disrespect and…"

Tails knocked into his mother, shoving her to the ground as he caught his device in midair and rigorously checked it. When he was done he breathed a sigh of relief, and returned to smiling. "Mother, I apologize, I just…" He stopped. His father was halfway out of his chair. His mother was on the ground. His grandmother looked faint. They all stared at Tails. Stammering, he ran out of the room, leaving the scene.

"I-It's time" said his mother as tears trickled down her nose and hit the floor.

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><p><strong>AN: Next chapter will be in a different format. Thanks for the love, guys :) Keep it coming!**


	3. Not Fate

Not Fate

One by one, they all were sent in that god forsaken room. Fresh out of a mental evaluation, they and their loved ones were all promised "Good, clean, effective treatments that will help you/your loved one improve your/their state of life while in a friendly environment full of caring and gentle staff that will make you/your loved one feel right at home", which all sounded pretty good.

But oh, how misleading that would prove to be.

They were forced into a single, windowless, white padded room together. A white padded room with six individual tiny cells connected to it by a hallway, where six small benches chained to the wall served as beds. A white padded room with one bathroom, where all the water ran ice cold.

Six complete strangers were now trapped inside this room with no escape. Knuckles was the first to break down, pounding on the walls as he screamed to someone who possibly wasn't even there.

"THIS IS AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS! ITS AGAINST THE LAW! ITS AGAINST EVERYTHING ANYTHING STANDS FOR! YOU CANT SEPARATE ME FROM MY GUN POSSESSIONS, OR WHEN I DIE MY GHOST WILL COME BACK AND SHOOT YOUR BRAINS OUT WITH ONE CLEAN SHOT. TRY ME! TRY ME! I CAN MAKE THAT HAPPEN!"

As he yelled on and the captives finally realized all this was real, hell broke loose. Tails began to weep hysterically. "I shouldn't BE HERE! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!" His outburst brought Sonic over, who calmly tried to assuage his fears.

"Buddy, what's…" he walked over to him, extending a hand that Tails slapped away as he shrieked.

"S-Stay back! Stay BACK! All of you! All you freaks!" His hands trembled, and tears blurred his vision.

"What do you mean, freaks?" Rouge said, her hands falling on her hips.

"I don't BELONG here with you people! You all are SICK IN THE HEAD!" he yelled as his hands covered his head.

Trying to reason with him, Sonic bent down. "Do you know exactly why we're here, buddy?" The small fox immediately stopped crying, looking at Sonic as if he had insulted him.

"Of _course _I know why. We've all been condemned to die in here because of our depleting mental state and the risk it poses to society. They don't know what to do with us, so they stick us in here in hope that our problem will resolve itself." As he said this, his face once again turned red with rage. "But…but there's nothing wrong with ME! I-It must be a mistake…that's right…yeah, a mistake!"

As he tried to convince himself with some positive words and modest chuckles, Rouge came up and forcefully smacked him across the face, leaving a big red mark blazing on it. "How DARE you accuse me of being insane. How DARE YOU!" She moved in to strike again, but was cut off by the blue hedgehog.

"Hey, you better stop right now. Leave him alone, he's a little kid!"

"A little dork who's going to see an early death!" she roared, clawing around behind Sonic for him. Running in horror, the twin-tailed fox took off back towards the cells to hide away.

"Aw, geez, look what you did!" Sonic yelled at her.

As Knuckles raged on and the others fought, Blaze stood away from them all as she faced the padded wall and thoughtfully ran her hand over it. Hmm…fabric. "I think I can get us out of here." She whispered, but it was just audible enough to catch three of the others' attention.

"Do you think you can?" Sonic asked eagerly as he walked up to her.

Nodding, she lit her hands on fire. The others stood back, slightly in awe, slightly in fear. By now, Knuckles's attention was even caught. Punching forward, she expected the whole wall to go up in flames. However, the fire was quickly put down on impact and Blaze was thrust backwards, tumbling to the ground.

Cackling, Rouge walked up to her. "That was some nice work; I can't believe we got out so quickly." Sneering, she turned on her heel, shaking her head in disgust.

"I-I don't know what went wrong." Blaze began to tear up as she stared at her palms. Sonic offered a smile as he extended a hand to help her up, which visibly brightened her mood.

As Rouge left what she thought of as 'the pathetic heap of people over there to wallow in their own failure', something tripped her and sent her in a face-plant on the floor. "What the…?" She propped herself up with her elbows and looked behind her. Quizzically, she looked at what appeared to be a small sleeping pink hedgehog lying on her side.

"What about this pink thing? She hasn't woken up since we got here." Forcefully, the bat kicked the girl in the head with the tip of her long purple boot.

"What was that all about?" Sonic rushed over and stood between them. "You're going to hurt someone!" Gently, he shook the hedgehog. "Hey, are you alright? I'm sorry about…"

Suddenly, the sleeping girl's eyes shot open at an alarming speed, causing Sonic to slightly tumble backwards in surprise. She quickly stood, eyes unblinking and mouth curling into a toothy, almost creepy, smile. "Oh…you're even _cuter_ than Jet."

"Uhm…who?" Sonic looked on in confusion. Without hesitation she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, restricting his air path. Gasping, choking, and gurgling, he tried pleading for help. Her grip blacked him out too fast, however, and he was soon collapsed into her arms. Giggling, she quietly stroked his quills and snuggled into his chest.

As she watched this in horror, Blaze did the first thing that came to her mind. "Get off of him!" she yelled as she shot balls of fire at Amy without warning. Amy let out a blood-curdling scream as one caught on her dress, rapidly spreading all over and coming dangerously close to charring her fragile flesh. Hoping to quickly dowse the flames she raced towards the bathroom.

As Blaze looked on in disbelief at what she had just caused, Rouge slowly clapped and walked up to her. "What a great show, thanks for the entertainment." She smirked. "It's too bad she's going to kill you when she gets back…"

"K-kill me?" Blaze's heart pounded in her chest. With everything going on, this prediction didn't seem too unlikely.

"I saw her smuggle a hammer in here." Rouge hoarsely whispered. "At least, once she gets a hold of you," she took a few menacing steps towards Blaze, meeting her face to face. "I'll have something to…remember you by." An evil glint shone in her eyes as she pulled out a small ruby from her top and watched the cat feel her forehead frantically for the item.

"T-that's mine! How did you…?"

"I get what I want, cat" she smiled evilly.

Blaze's whole body shook in fury, and she outreached her palm, preparing to blast Rouge as hard as she could. Before she could do that, however, loud, wailing, deranged screams came from behind her; Amy came at her with her hammer held high above her head, a wild and murderous look in her eyes. She crushed the top of Blaze's head mercilessly as the cat slammed into the ground, tiny drops of blood spattering the hammer maniac and staining the floor.

"That's what you get for messing with me and my new boyfriend!" She cackled manically as she raised her hammer again, preparing the finish her off for good. No one lights Amy Rose on fire and gets away with it.

As she helplessly lay on the ground, Blaze yelped in pain as she saw her blood drip on the white floor. Her feet and hands went numb, and she was paralyzed with fright.

"You're going down, hedgehog." Knuckles jumped in front of her, holding his hands together in a mock-gun position just as Amy was about to swing down. "I-If I cant have my real guns, this is second best, right?" He looked down at the cat for some sort of reassurance in this theory; however, his eyes quickly caught hers and he slightly gasped as her lowered his 'weapon'. "Hey, you're that girl I was going to shoot."

"Sh-shoot! When, what did I ever…?" Her golden orbs suddenly glimmered with realization, and she painfully sat up as far as she could to face him. "You…you're the one who tried to murder my father!"

Knuckles look bewildered. "Father? He tried to take my guns away…lets just say if I had gotten to him, we wouldn't be here right now. And I was trying to save you from the police by shooting you."

"S-Shoot? The…? How would shooting me have HELPED?"

"Oh, so you do have a bad side, cat? What did you do?" Rouge inquired. This was the first interesting thing she heard the entire stay here. She saw that this made Blaze stammer and become flustered, which only made her question further. "What happened?"

"I-I-I…accidentally…my house it just…it went up in flames because of me…"

Knuckles finally realized why. Why the palace had been in ruins when he got there…why the police were all there. "YOU did that?" He raised his brow up in shock. "You burnt down the palace? Your own house?"

The cat began frantically shaking her head to try and deny all of this. "It…it's nothing like that…"

"Do you want to kill the king too?" Knuckles's smile twisted into an excited evil grin, as if he was planning…scheming. He looked at the cat with bright eyes. With her power and his guns, there would be no stopping them…

"W-w-wait…you're the princess? Princess Blaze?" Amy got down on her knees and began weeping at Blaze's feet. "I'm…SO SORRY I TRIED TO KILL YOU!" she wailed. As Blaze gently nudged her off, she only tried to ignore the burnt areas Amy's dress that were tempting Blaze to finish the job.

"No…no I wasn't trying to kill my own _father_. I just…wanted to see what would happen if the palace caught fire" she explained. The other three looked up, eyes wide like this was the craziest thing they had ever heard.

"So you're some sick pyromaniac? Trying to kill your parents with your 'experimentation'? Are we next? Is this place going to burn to the ground?" Rouge screamed at her.

"No! NO! I mean…I don't…I didn't want to. But I had to. It was the only thing to do."

Rouge shook her head and muttered something under her breath, while Knuckles looked on at her with admiration. "Would you like to help kill your father?" he asked excitedly.

As Blaze exclaimed in shock, Sonic slowly came to and regained consciousness. "AH! HE'S ALIVE!" Amy ran to him as the blue hedgehog, who tensed up at the sight of her. "I guess I was just…too much for you to handle?" She giggled. "I'll make sure to tone it down to keep your love from making you pass out."

"Who even are you?" Sonic asked as he tried squirming out of her strong grip. Her nails were beginning to dig into his flesh.

"You silly, I'm Amy. You're girlfriend. Jet is my ex…just WAIT until he sees US TOGETHER!"

"Amy…" He looked thoughtful, as if recalling a good time. "I once killed a girl named Amy, right after I sold her sister to slavery" Sonic calmly said.

At this point, everything just froze. Even Amy backed away slightly from him. When he saw their faces, his heart dropped inside of him and he cursed himself for allowing him to so blatantly lie. This could be something to get him killed.

While the other three maintained their shocked silence, Amy just leaned back and shrugged. "My love is unconditional." Her voice quivered as she took his hands, gently massaging his palms.

"Lay one finger on me or anyone else here, and I'll run a bullet through your heart." Knuckles gruffly said, coming nose to nose with him. "Hell, I'd run a bullet through you now if I had the chance." Pushing him to the ground, Sonic looked up at Blaze and Rouge. The bat kicked him in the stomach. As he was doubled over in pain, she took his shoes, running away with them to her cell.

The last there was Blaze. She knelt down, and whispered into his ear. "I don't know if you're truthful; even if you are, I still consider you one of the more sane people here." She turned to leave, and Sonic only watched as she stumbled to the ground, her bloodied head coming into full contact with the floor.

He could only look on in disdain as the gripped the floor, clawing her way across it just to get in an area where she would still be on the ground…still be a prisoner.

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><p><strong>Slightly different, without titles and such. I couldn't really continue to focus on each of their individual thoughts when they were all together! Anyways, please leave a review if you liked it! Thank you to everyone who is reading :)<strong>


	4. But the Desire for

But a Desire for

The weeks passed by. The withdrawal continued. The prisoners, turning into shells of their former selves, were changing and reverting back to their primal instincts. Their resent and hatred for those who imprisoned them was blurring their thoughts, leaving them oblivious to the fact that the revenge they were all seeking would damage them in more ways than one and do more harm than good.

The only thing they came to count on was the single meal that somehow was present when they awoke every morning and that their clothes would always be damp and wet from the frigid shower, giving them severe colds and rashes.

By now, each knew what was wrong with the other but no one faltered and once believed it could be true. They couldn't accept why they were there and blamed everyone outside for what had happened to them.

"Please…please! I NEED MY WORK! Please…just let me have my status calculator. M-my machines…they might exploded. They must need maintenance…" Tails pleaded with the unseen captors, banging on a wall with his fists. "Please, please, please, please," he banged his head on the wall repeatedly until it began to bleed.

"Oh, are you talking to the voices again?" Knuckles asked, standing behind him idly. "Yeah, I talk to them. I know they're there. They told me they have my guns. They told me they were using them, that they wouldn't give them back." He growled and violently grabbed Tails by the shoulders, turning him around and laughing wildly. "Don't ever talk to them…don't ask them for help. THEY DON'T DESERVE TO HELP US!"

Blaze walked up to the both of them, the light in her golden eyes visibly dimmed. "He's right, you know. They're evil. They want us dead; they won't let us do anything. They won't let me use my fire...not on the walls, bed…" She stood her ground, staring straight into space.

From the floor in the center of the room, Sonic sighed and shook his head. "Will you all stop it…you're scaring him! Pull yourselves together." They all paid little attention; Sonic hung his head.

"Ohhh." Amy shivered with pleasure as she ran over and put her head in his lap. "You're so…motivational, my love."

Sonic looked down and shuddered as he stood up quickly. "I'm not you're love. Get away from me, Amy."

"Ohh Sonic…I love it when you play hard to get." She giggled profusely. In an instant, her look darkened and her smile faded to seriousness. "I would kill someone for you, my love. Dismantle them, limb from limb." She hoarsely whispered into his ears causing his heart to stop for a moment.

Rouge, who had been lurking in the shadows all this time, stopped to listen to their conversation. With the way Amy was gushing over Sonic, she often wondered how big her heart was.

"You know, in being a thief there's always something I wanted." She stood in front of the two hedgehogs, the look in her eyes giving hint at her internal imbalance. "I've always wanted a heart. Now, you may think that sounds crazy; maybe it is; maybe these people have driven me to insanity. But who knows? All I know is there are no more things to steal and I've always wanted one."

She paused and rubbed her hand on he chin. "Whether or not I meant it figuratively or literally before I came here makes no difference; I can't remember. But now I want one…" She bent over. Her face was close to Amy's, eyes making the color vanish from her cheeks. "…literally. And with yours being so big and all from the love you have for this hedgehog, I think it is the one I will take."

Without warning she gripped the pink hedgehog off the ground by her collar and lifted her into the air. The pink, bright, and well-trimmed nails she had miraculously kept intact throughout the duration of her stay seemed to grow longer, making their sharpness only stick out more. "I guess I'll just rip it out of you." She smiled casually as she pulled her one arm back, fingers closed together and pointed like a cobra ready to attack.

Sonic crawled on the floor, just observing all the craziness going on around him. It was all sinister, dark, scary…a million thought flashed through his mind of Shadow…no, no, no…himself, committing those terrible, violent crimes; the crimes that killed. Had he killed…?

No, it was Shadow…he _was_ Shadow. The name rang in his ears, pounding against his brain and making his blood rush. He screamed, yelling, wanting it all to stop. "NO!" He let out a long, desperate wail.

The entire clangor promptly stopped; even Rouge held her hand in midair, inched away from Amy's chest. "We need to stop." He panted, looking around at the faces. Each one of them was hollow; they looked more like flesh-eating corpses than people. "Nothing, nothing…nothing is going to change. We can't outrun this fate, and we can't outrun each other…we need to keep our eyes on the common enemy. We need to escape."

At this last statement, a steady stream of quiet chatter sprung from the group. The first to speak out was Blaze. "This can't be done. Nothing can save us from this place."

In recent days, she had broken out in a rash from the cold, wet, clothes against her skin. The suffering had only been made worse by a rampant case of the fleas, which had bitten and infected everyone in the room. The time in there had made her bitter, wavering her metal stability and leaving her hopeless. It was only natural that she would be so critical of such a surreal plan.

"It can be done…" Sonic began.

"But HOW?" she further pressed, heating up.

"We…we just need to get the walls down. Find the door we came through…we can force our way out of here…maybe block the pipes and flood this place; if we combine everything we have and work all our energies away from hatred and funnel them towards this, we could be free."

There was a long pause. "I hate to say it, but he's right." Rouge faced them. "We could all work together…but…for a price." She turned and looked at the puzzled hedgehog. "We want revenge. If we get out of here, we should all help each other get it."

Sonic looked taken aback. For one, revenge wasn't his thing. Two, he couldn't believe Rouge would want to _help_ anyone. The rest slowly nodded in agreement, and then began excitedly talking all at once.

"I want to kill the king! I want to kill the king!" Knuckles chanted. Blaze looked at him in shock and anger.

"I won't allow that to happen" she quietly said, stepping towards him.

"WHY DO YOU OBJECT TO THIS? YOU TRIED TO KILL HIM TOO!"

"I DIDN'T DO-!"

"Please be quiet or you'll be on my revenge list, too." Amy smiled at the both of them innocently.

"If that's what you truly all want…then go ahead. I don't care. But we need to think of a way out, firstly. It might not be easy, but…"

Tails, who had kept quiet for most of this time, snorted out loud. "You think it 'might not be easy'? Escaping here is like trying to escape a federal prison. There are cameras, lead walls, and twenty-four hour security."

They all just stared at him, dumbfounded. "What, do you think you're some kind of _genius_? How do you know?" Rouge asked bitterly.

Rubbing the still-present red mark across his face Tails backed away from her slightly, yet still maintained a cocky tone. His manners, along with his common sense, had been diminished in the room. "Actually, yes; before I came here I would work on many inventions that helped the community daily: my auto-sewer cleaning system, my rapid DNA tester…not to mention I designed the features and security for this whole room."

He stood there proudly for a second, before being gripped fiercely by Rouge. "Y-You…" her fierceness subsided immediately, as if she had a whole new perspective. "You smart little boy." She smiled sweetly, patting his head in a mother like fashion. Beyond horrified at this, Tails ran behind Sonic for protection as the others looked at her quizzically.

Sonic picked up where the conversation had left off. "So…you designed this room." Tails nodded in proud affirmation, grinning slightly. "So you know all the inner workings…everything?"

Tails looked troubled for a moment, scratching his chin. "I suppose you could say that." Truthfully he was more surprised at himself for not thinking of this sooner.

"Can you get us out?" Sonic grabbed him by his shoulders as Rouge had done but with more force.

Tails nodded once again, this time a trace of worry in his eyes. "I can do this…" He put a finger to his mouth, and motioned for them to all crouch low and huddle. "It's unsafe to talk about escaping now. They have some of the best defense technology and security personnel at their disposal. They could be just looking for a reason to kill us at this very moment."

Picking his head up, he surveyed the room. "Follow my lead. Don't discuss what we do. The bathroom is the only safe place. If I remember correctly, regulations that were later revoked prevented me from installing them there. I built the system in a unique way so that only I could change things, so it is doubtful they added one. I need everyone to cooperate. If even one of you freaks messes up, we could be found out and killed…that's all they want to do, is kill us like we want to kill them."

He looked at everyone's doubtful faces, but nodded confidently as they all broke apart. He quickly departed to the bathroom, his tiny hands shaking with anxiety. The intent was to leave a message in the bathroom; something discrete. Searching frantically throughout the small space, however, he found no writing utensils or surfaces that would help him accomplish this.

As he sat on the toilet in thought, he looked down at a red smudge on the floor. That's when the idea formed. Thinking quickly, he ran back out into the room and looked over each person. Who could harm him without the desire to kill him? Who could he trust the most? His options were limited, and he gulped as he walked up to the white bat.

"Cut me" he instructed bluntly.

"Wha…?"

"Now, do it." He held out his finger in anticipation of the small, stinging prick. As she slashed him across his palm with her thick, dangerous nails he howled in pain. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as bit down hard on his lip to stop the crying. He ran back to the room, resisting the urge to put his finger in it; he was positive the cut was at least an inch deep. Blood gushing in spurts from the wound, Tails spelled out the first word of his message on the long bathroom wall by guiding and moving his hand carefully in all different ways then fixing the messy calligraphy with his fingers.

Standing back, he nodded and went to signal the others. By his instruction they would be free. And when they were free…oh…the things he would build. They all entered the bathroom one-by-one, expressions ranging from shock to admiration at what they found.

"HIDDN FLOOR PANEL FIND; DO NOT TOUCH. FEELS GEL. BUZZING" Demonstrating his point, the fox knelt down on the ground in the main room and put his ear to the floor while patting the ground and crawling. Knuckles was less gentle and soon began rampantly tearing up the floor with each punch delivered to the ground.

Trying to silently discourage this Tails sighed in relief as Amy motioned him over, having tapped found it with her hammer. The single pad looked the same as any other: white, hard, and smooth. But as Tails dug his hands through it and the tile melted to goo, it proved that this wasn't the case. The gray metal box underneath had wires crisscrossed on the top of the lid with some sparking alarmingly. A number pad was the only way to force it open, with the wrong code resulting in immediate death.

"If you're even less than sure…" Sonic started, but Tails dismissed him with a wave of his hand. As he punched each number, they cringed until the lid slowly opened up to reveal a giant red button.

"RED BUTTON!" Amy leaped out of her sitting position, pressing it with full force. As suddenly as that happened, the lights immediately turned off; all humming noises that they didn't even realize were present until now stopped. "SONIC!" Amy screeched, jumping into his arms. "WHERE ARE YOU, IS THIS YOU?"

"Be quiet!" Tails yelled, now back to regular volume. "Calm down, this is all according to plan." Reaching out in the darkness, he put his hand against a wall and whimpered. After that he smiled and turned to the one next to it. "Yes, here it is."

"What?" Rouge asked.

"Three of these walls have a strong lead wall inside, preventing passage in and out accept when controlled by an outside force. In design, the fourth came out without one…a stupid error by the technician, why I didn't just do it myself is…" He shook his head. "The last wall was replaced by a controlled electrical field. No one has touched it in our time here, thankfully…"

"And you never said anything?" Blaze asked.

"It wouldn't have made any difference in my mind if one of you would have. Anyways, this is our only possible exit out. However, there is nothing humanly possible that can break the wall AND survive the shock."

His eyes brightened at this and his hands shook with delight. "We are going to blow down the wall with an atomic explosion. We could die, or the wall could go down along with everyone on the other side of it; even then there's no guarantee that we won't still be killed."

"You're saying we could live or die or die again?" Knuckles pondered this before smiling. "I like those odds."

"But Tails, w-what…where?"

"Shhh. Just get me what I need and no one gets electrocuted today. I can make due with the materials I have here; the explosive will be unstable…but an explosive is an explosive." With that, he sent the others off on a search to collect any stray items or liquids they could find. Using the dirty plates that were left from their meals, metal rust, toilet water, food grease, battery acid collected from the cameras, and a mysterious liquid provided by Amy, the kitsune genius was soon at work mixing these chemicals by the wall.

As the army of nuts gathered around him through his day long toils he eventually sat back, exasperated. "Finished." He breathed out, seeming more worn than usual.

"Well? Can we go?" asked Sonic impatiently. Tails nodded, his body turned from the rest as his hands worked excitedly about the homemade mix. At once he sat bolt upright, seemingly shocked and afraid.

"What is it, genius? Something wrong?" Rouge tauntingly said. Turning sheepishly to face the crowd, Tails's tongue seemed to be caught.

"I…without thinking I made this…but…"

"But WHAT?" the bat scowled.

"There is no ignition source to light it off."

For a moment, everyone seemed genuinely shocked before mentally slapping themselves on the head. In the back, a cat smiled and stepped forward. "Excuse me for saying so, but for a genius you are quite dull" she said good-naturedly, sending some unusually placed chuckles throughout the room. As soon as she lit her hand, however, the lighthearted atmosphere soon melted away to tension. Moving her hand closer, she scanned the crowd with a worried expression. All of them could die within a moment's notice. Catching her eyes, one tall blue hedgehog smiled through his fear and attempted to reassure her with a thumbs-up.

Nodding, she moved even closer to light it, savoring what could be her last seconds. Even if they did go, she knew they were doing the right thing; they would be remembered for this. They would be the heroes of the insane, the ones who risked everything for defiance of society. Dying would only begin their legacy.

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><p><strong>Hello readers! Thank you for sticking with me! In light of recent circumstances, I am afraid to admit that this may be my last chapter. Originally this would have been the second to last, but I believe my time with this story is unfortunatly done :( Instead, I have it in mind to funnel my writing into stories that are a bit more my style. So, for now, this may be the end. One day I might add the final chapter, but for now I believe it is best to leave the story of these misfits as is. Thank you, much love to all who reviewed :)<strong>


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